Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Barack Obama won't say if he still believes the war in Iraq was a "dumb" one.

That was his description of it before he took office - comparing what he saw as a war of choice with a war of necessity in Afghanistan.

Obama now simply says history will be the judge of the decision to launch military action in 2003.

And consigning the Iraq chapter to history is exactly what Obama is all about this week.

The mantra from the White House for days now has been that "the war is over" but opponents of Obama see more than a little wishful thinking in that.

No doubt the candidates for the Republican nomination will make lots of noise about why pulling out of Iraq is a bad decision and, even if we chose to ignore that as simply campaign noise, there are voices that are harder to dismiss.

John McCain, presidential candidate in 2008, is a man of huge military experience and an advocate of the 'surge' in Iraq in 2006. Read More